June 2013
WARLORDS Hello from Afghanistan!
Commander’s This unit has been away from home and deployed for the Update
past 5 months. As the warm weather gets hotter, Soldiers and Families get closer to the best part of a deployment; the unit’s redeployment! I know most of you are looking at the calendar as each day passes. Rest assured that the next time you read this newsletter; we will be well into double digit days from coming home! I would also like to take this opportunity to address return dates. Some of you may have heard your Soldier discuss when they think they are coming home; please note that no dates or week has been solidified, and what you hear is only speculation. As dates are solidified, I will immediately distribute that information through the rear detachment leadership and the Family Readiness Group’s chain of concern. I just wanted to remind the families that we have the best military in the world. Our Soldiers are well-trained, heavily equipped with the best war-fighting arsenal ever fielded in modern combat, and led by extremely professional and hard working leaders at all levels. Your Soldiers conduct their missions with honor and pride. Always remember that you are always in your Soldiers thoughts and heart. Without you, “our loved ones,” we could not conduct are missions on a daily bases. Thank you to our Family Readiness Group for their enthusiastic support to the Company; reaching out to spouses, children, parents, and loved ones across the country. Your support and encouragement from home gives strength to our Soldiers, even from half a world away. Packages, letters, and emails make a difference in the lives of our Soldiers. Thanks to all for your support! Your encouragement makes a difference to our Soldiers everyday! CPT Eric Ortiz Commander Warlord 6
1
First Sergeant
Notes
Family and Friends, The 139th Military Police Company is entering the sixth month of the deployment. During the past month we’ve witnessed the Afghan security forces taking the lead for security across the country, and ISAF completing its shift from a combat to a support role. This marked the progress we have made. The Warlords’ dedication and awesome performance continues to contribute to the Task Force’s mission and by the end of 2014, Afghans will exert security responsibility across the country, and the ISAF mission will be completed. In the next months we will continue to train, advice and assist the Afghan security forces as they continue to take on their security responsibilities. We will continue to provide combat support, as necessary, until our redeployment back to Fort Stewart. As always, we thank you for your continued support. I hope it brings you a peace of mind to know that your Soldiers are happy, well fed, well housed, and have access to great facilities.
1SG Hermes F. Acevedo First Sergeant Warlord 7
2
1st Platoon Over the past month the Wolfpack has focused on training and military education. The Soldiers are making great progress in their education, propelling them forward in both their civilian and military lives. Countless hours have been logged on the computer completing correspondence courses over the past month. I am very proud of all the effort the Soldiers have put forth on this front. When Soldiers aren’t on mission, they are busy preparing and training, to help increase their survivability and prepare them for their next step in rank. The Soldiers are responsible for knowing their position and they must prepare for taking over other positions. The NCOs have capitalized on downtime to ready the Soldiers for promotion. Over the past month, the platoon has completed multiple missions. We have continued to work hand in hand with the Afghan Uniform Police (AUP) throughout Kandahar City. We have covered over four sub-districts and multiple checkpoints during our missions. We have regularly been conducting missions to check infrastructure throughout Kandahar. Outside of these planned missions, we have conducted several on order missions and even added greatly to a Battalion sized mission. We are very proud of the way the platoon has been performing. A special recognition goes out to the following Soldiers who have had birthdays in the past month: SPC Hood, PFC Meeks. Congratulations to the following couples who celebrated an anniversary: SFC Adkins, and CPL Wilkinson.
3
2nd Platoon Friends and Family of 2nd Platoon, this past month wraps up our fifth month of the deployment. The end is in sight and we all eagerly look forward to being home again! While we continue to support the US and ISAF mission here in Kandahar, things have slowed down some for the Zombie hunters as more and more, the Afghan Security Forces take over control of their own security. It is the goal that the US has striven towards for the past several years of this now twelve year long conflict and we are proud to be a part of this closing act of another chapter in American History. Recently, the Zombie Hunters welcomed back one of their own, SSG Lindsey. He entered Afghanistan as 2nd Squad’s Leader, but left upon receiving notification of his promotion. Now, he has returned to us as the Platoon Sergeant, Zombie Hunter 7. We all look forward to working with him again! That being said, this also marks the close of an era for 2nd Platoon as SSG Montes has moved to Headquarters platoon for bigger and better things! SSG Montes has served as the Platoon Sergeant for 2nd Platoon for a year and half and was a squad leader before that. He was the longest continuous member of 2 nd Platoon and worked with me from the time I came to the 139th. He will be missed and we wish him the best! Late this past month, 1st Squad finally joined the company on FOB Walton. They still work detached from the unit, but they now get constant support from the Company and get to see their friends in the other platoons on a daily basis. They also get the opportunity to join in on the company movie nights that we have started having every Saturday behind out company tactical operations center. This week, the Zombie Hunters got to pick the movie, so the company will be watching The Hangover III. It gets continues to get hotter and averages about 110 to 115 here on any given day. There is far less humidity here though than back at Ft. Stewart, so it is not unbearable. We continue to run a number of retrograde missions all over the city to support the eventual withdrawal of US forces from Kandahar along with our normal, non-retrograde missions.
4
Finally, we would like to congratulate PFC Herron and PFC Geauthreaux on their promotions this month! As always, thank you for your continued love and support! See you all soon! – 1LT Bertz
3 Platoon rd
Hello family and friends of 3rd platoon. It has been a busy past month as we conducted a few important missions. As usual, your 3rd platoon Soldiers did so in the upmost tactical and professional manner. Anytime 3rd platoon is tasked a mission, they tackle it quickly and efficiently. At the conclusion of every mission, I am always so proud of our men and women for the excellent jobs they do each and every day. To highlight one mission, 3rd platoon was the main effort in a recent mission where we partnered with the local police to find a couple of bad guys. The mission was a total success; thanks again to your 3rd platoon Soldiers. As we move further into summer, the weather continues to get warmer, but that doesn't stop us from completing our tasks. Some Soldiers are drinking a case of water a day! We are definitely staying hydrated. As always, when the Soldiers are not on mission, you will find them in the gym. Our squad leaders, SSG Mook and SGT Anderson, have established a "300 club", where the Soldiers safely and properly bench press 300 pounds with both of the squad leaders there to certify. It becomes very competitive, but to be in the club is exciting and very prideful. The club members have a "salute" to one another with a flexing bicep. It's awesome and fun to see. In addition to the 300 club and other weight lifting, the Soldiers of 3rd also continue to stay competitive on the basketball court as pick-up games are happening every night. We have some excellent ball players with deadly shooting skills. This past month, we welcomed three new Soldiers to our platoon, SPC Wyatt (from 2nd platoon), PFC Carriere (from Headquarters) and PFC Hollingsworth (from 1st Platoon). They are a wonderful addition with a lot of experience. I couldn't be happier as they all fit in perfect. Also this month, we had a few promotions and others who earned their promotable status. SGT Anderson and SPC Ritchie attended the board and had excellent performances. The NCO core will gladly accept SPC Ritchie as he became SPC promotable and well deserving! Soldiers who were promoted were PFC Chandler and SPC Knapp. Great job to those Solders and once again, we are extremely proud. Other Soldiers preparing for next month’s board includes SGT Heflin and SPC Williams. Among other news, 3rd platoon, 2nd squad gained back their Alpha team leader, SGT Young and his team, SPC Scott, PFC Stamps and PFC Laprade. They have been attached to an SFAT at Camp Nathan Smith where they did an exceptional job! We are extremely happy to have them back as the SFAT mission over there ended. Speaking of SGT Young, his wife had their baby boy last month and we would all like to congratulate them as new parents!
5
Overall, your 3rd platoon Soldiers continue to exceed our standards in everything they do. We are so proud of them each and every day. We couldn't have asked for a better group of young men and women to go to combat with! Until next time, this is Archangel 6 and 7 signing off.
Headquarters
We are now in finishing out fifth month of deployment and following a nice battle rhythm. All the sections are working hard to keep things running smoothly here on FOB Walton. Headquarters Platoon takes pride in maintaining the company’s vehicles and communications equipment, conducting physical fitness, pushing out much needed supplies, embracing 24 hour force protection, and taking the lead in the Company’s Retrograde Operations . Our mechanics are always busy maintaining our up armored vehicles. They constantly have work to do from replacing windows damaged by children with 6
arms like professional pitchers in the major leagues, to changing oil and upgrading parts in order to make the MATV’s and MAXXPRO’s more efficient. Although force protection and working towers around the FOB is a full time job in and of itself, SFC Linck knows how to manage maintenance, physical fitness and down time so that we can always get our work done and have plenty of personal down time. The maintenance section’s latest achievements include training classes on ground guiding, completing all services required by our fleet and continually stressing to our Soldiers the dos and don’ts in vehicle safety along with driving lessons for the LMTV and MATV. Our company’s supply section is one of the best in Kandahar. SSG Ekabe always keeps our platoons fully stocked with supplies. Though many items are in high demand and sometimes difficult to obtain, the platoons know there is no limit to the effort and resources that SSG Ekabe and the supply section will put into solving one of their problems. Although SSG Ekabe is the driving force behind the Company’s Supply Operations, he SFC Montgomery & SFC Oliver are isn’t our unit’s only supply clerk. We are the Cornerstones of our TOC very proud of the personal and Operations professional growth shown by PFC’s Turner and Lomax. For the past four months they have been performing the day in day out grind of the supply operations at the Company’s locations on Cop ANCOP and FOB Walton. Physical fitness is always being sustained and improved by the Soldiers in the 139th. Being part of a deployment means constantly being challenged with a physical task that might demand heavy lifting or a lot of walking in heavy gear. Our Soldiers try to take every opportunity given to them to go to the gym. Whether it is the middle of the night, after tower guard or the middle of the day to take a break and get a quick lift in, the gym is open all day long for us to use. We are definitely trying to ensure that we maintain our physical fitness standards and who knows, all the hard work might pay off when we join our families on the beach for block leave upon redeployment. From all of Headquarters Platoon here in Afghanistan, know that we are working hard and making our families proud. This letter brings June to a close, with just a few more to go, brighter things are on the horizon.
7
Detainee Ops Greetings! Another month has passed and the Detainee Operations Team continues to set the standard for detention operations here in Afghanistan. SGT Luke attended the Promotion Board earlier this month. He performed quite well, earning his promotable status. Congratulations to him and his family! We hosted our monthly barbeque on June 14. Following dinner, we gathered all the Soldiers and celebrated the Army’s 238th Birthday with a traditional cake cutting ceremony. Most of our Soldiers are enrolled in college and are working hard to develop themselves professionally while they are away from their families and friends. Continue to keep them and us in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to grow, develop and exceed the standard! We would like to offer a special thanks to the Family Readiness group for supporting us and all of our families back home. The hard work is greatly appreciated, Thank You!
8
Warlord Pride May Promotions
June Promotions
SPC Aaberg, Casey D. SPC Edusah, Damien SPC Teneyck, Justin M.
SPC Hoodwright, Brock A. SPC Vela, Juan Jr. SPC Knapp, Travis W.
9